About this blog

My name is Bill Hirt and I'm a candidate to be a Representative from the 48th district in the Washington State legislature. My candidacy stems from concern the legislature is not properly overseeing the WSDOT and Sound Transit East Link light rail program. I believe East Link will be a disaster for the entire eastside. ST will spend 5-6 billion on a transportation project that will increase, not decrease cross-lake congestion, violates federal environmental laws, devastates a beautiful part of residential Bellevue, creates havoc in Bellevue's central business district, and does absolutely nothing to alleviate congestion on 1-90 and 405. The only winners with East Link are the Associated Builders and Contractors of Western Washington and their labor unions.

This blog is an attempt to get more public awareness of these concerns. Many of the articles are from 3 years of failed efforts to persuade the Bellevue City Council, King County Council, east side legislators, media, and other organizations to stop this debacle. I have no illusions about being elected. My hope is voters from throughout the east side will read of my candidacy and visit this Web site. If they don't find them persuasive I know at least I tried.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

BCC Agreement Continues East Link Debacle

The Bellevue City Council could have used the permitting process
and the fact eastside taxes provide more than enough funds to insist on
whatever light rail route or tunnel they preferred.Instead, their recent East Link agreement with Sound Transit
is just the latest example of the council acquiescing to a total debacle.

Fifteen years ago Sound Transit could have added 4th
lanes to the I-90 Bridge outer roadways and initiated two-way bus rapid transit
(BRT) on the bridge center roadway. BRT had 10 times light rail capacity at
1/10th the cost and could have provided access from every P&R on
the east side.The 4th
lanes would have reduced vehicle congestion on the outer roadways and BRT could
have provided direct bus connections between each of the east side P&R lots
reducing congestion throughout the area.The fact ST never considered BRT for their 2008 DEIS was a monumental
blunder

Sound Transit’s DEIS included the following alternatives in
Segment C: Downtown Bellevue:

•Bellevue Way Tunnel (C1T)

•106th NE Tunnel (C2T)

•108th NE Tunnel (C3T)

•Couplet (C4A)

•112th NE Elevated (C7E)

•110th NE Elevated (C8E)

The C4A configuration was the
only “at grade” alternative.It
was only some 2 ½ years later the “Final EIS” included the following:

There are two preferred alternatives in this segment, one with an
at-grade profile (Preferred Alternative C11A) and one with a tunnel
profile (Preferred Alternative C9T). ST2 provides funding for an
at-grade or elevated alternative in Segment C. Additional funding sources would
be required for the Sound Transit Board to select a tunnel alternative in this
segment.

They used that argument to insist
their Prop 1 proposal hadn’t included funds for a tunnel and demanded Bellevue
share the additional $320 million tunnel costs. The councils
acquiescence was particularly egregious since eastside taxes had supported
Central Link for years and Sound Transit recently apparently “found money” to
pay for an unplanned tunnel extending Central Link all the way to Northgate.

The tunnel alternatives in the DEIS included underground stations near Bellevue Square or Bellevue T/C.The council, in order to reduce their “tunnel cost”, decided
to locate the downtown station at street level near the City Hall.As a result, light rail access in
downtown Bellevue will be far less convenient than current ST560 bus stops at Bellevue
T/C and at 2nd and 105th. Its difficult to
believe City Hall will be an attractive access point or destination for large
numbers of riders.

The route into Bellevue has been the most contentious of all; and
for good reason.Noise issues have
forced Sound Transit to spend untold millions to extensively modify homes more
than 400 ft away from Central Link.East Link 4-car trains will undoubtedly have higher noise levels for
longer periods of time than Central Link’s 2-car trains.

The council managed to “persuade” ST to “trench” along Bellevue
Way adjacent to the Winters House.Further north, rather than “trenching”, they’ll construct an overpass so
light rail can cross under 112th. .It’s not clear whether trenching will reduce noise to
acceptable levels.Further north
the elevated roadway and grade level trains will surely create noise issues for
many residents.Apparently Sound
Transit will buy out the “lucky ones” but the vast majority will have their lives
changed forever by the construction and subsequent operation of light rail.

The noise issue also raises questions about light rail’s ability
to attract development to the Bel Red area, one of East Links major selling
points.The council recently made
an issue of Sound Transit plans to locate a large maintenance facility in the
area.Apparently the council
wasn’t aware the DEIS had included four alternative locations for large maintenance
facilities there.Again, they’ve
presumably acquiesced to the facility despite their claims it was a “surprise”
and “not acceptable”. What they continue to ignore is the
light rail noise issue. What are their plans to “mitigate” that problem to the
extent developers will be attracted to the area?

I first appeared before the council in early 2009 to argue Sound
Transit had blundered in never considering BRT for their “no build” option in
the DEIS.I told the council
simple mathematics belied Sound Transit claims in the 2008 DEIS a 4-car train
every 9 minutes could carry up to 24,000 riders per hour and whatever capacity
light rail had was of limited use since most cross lake commuters didn’t have
access.I urged them to authorize
their own study of BRT.Instead
they insisted on funding studies of alternate light rail routes into Bellevue,
the equivalent of paying for “studies” to determine which side of the Titanic was safer.

The bottom line is the BCC/ST East Link agreement will result in
$2.8 billion (2007 dollars?) spent on a light rail system that will devastate
Bellevue during the several years of construction with no real assurance their
“mitigation” efforts will be successful along the route into Bellevue or in the
Bel Red area.

When completed in 2023(?) the only downtown access other than T/C will be at City
Hall rather than where most potential riders would prefer.The only access for I-90 corridor
commuters will be a South Bellevue P&R which will never have the capacity
or the accessibility needed.Both
the downtown area and the P&R already have excellent bus service and the
Bel Red area could be far better served with a South Lake Union type streetcar
system.

Sound Transits closure of the I-90 center roadway in 2016 to begin
installing light rail, forcing all traffic onto the outer roadways, will change
cross-lake commuting forever.Their own 2004 studies show the 4th bus/HOV lanes they
plan to add prior to the closure won’t have the capacity needed to avoid
increased cross-lake congestion.

When East Link begins operation in 2023 the South Bellevue P&R
limitations will still force the vast majority I-90 corridor commuters onto the outer roadways.The lack of access and
the City Hall station location will limit light rail ridership to a fraction of
the 50,000 they’ve promised for East Link.Many of those who do ride will be those who previously rode
the bus.Meanwhile all the other
cross-lake buses, HOV and cars will face ever-increasing congestion.

About Me

My last elective position was class president for 25 “class of ’57” seniors in Armstrong, Iowa. I received an MS in engineering at ISU, worked at Boeing for 36 years before retiring in 1998. My wife and I moved into our current home in Bellevue in 1967 where we raised two daughters. Three years of unsuccessful attempts to persuade BCC to block EL are available on “extended session” meeting minutes. Copies of many were sent to all the media outlets, legislators, and others to no avail. I’m hoping this Web site will convince east side residents to query their own legislators.